Soon, two figures came to a halt within the void.
Just as Li Guanqi moved to mobilize his divine sense, he discovered that his sea of consciousness was entirely occupied by flames!
Fortunately, he could still channel his divine sense.
*Buzz—!*
The void tore open, and two black-robed figures stepped out from within.
The instant they appeared, they concealed their presence.
Li Guanqi surveyed the endless expanse of towering mountains surrounding them, where lush, verdant forests blanketed nearly the entire range.
All manner of exotic flowers and rare herbs grew everywhere, yet he dared not touch them carelessly.
He noticed that the roots and stems of many plants were interconnected; disturbing even one would cause a broad swath of vegetation across the mountain range to react.
Mist swirled through the air, thick with spiritual energy. The chirping of birds and insects echoed endlessly, punctuated occasionally by the piercing screeches of various demon beasts.
Yet aside from those sounds, the whole of Dijing Slope was deathly still.
Ye Xuan held his longsword, his expression grave and his eyes watchful as he scanned their surroundings.
"Are you sure it's here?"
"I haven't sensed any spatial fluctuations or traces of a secret realm."
Li Guanqi did not answer. Closing his eyes to focus his mind, his formidable divine sense surged forth like a tidal wave.
In the blink of an eye, it enveloped an area dozens of li around them.
Suddenly, Li Guanqi's brow furrowed slightly. He had detected a faint abnormality in a distant mountain hollow.
A bumblebee had landed on an Eight Immortals Lotus, and the vividly blooming flower immediately snapped shut, trapping the bee inside.
Yet the vast patch of Eight Immortals Lotuses in the distant hollow showed no change whatsoever.
Li Guanqi opened his eyes, a glint flashing across his gaze. Raising a hand, he stirred a gentle breeze tens of thousands of feet away.
The wind was faint, scarcely enough to make the lotuses in that hollow sway.
Yet as the breeze drifted across and reached the valley, it vanished in an instant, as if slamming into an invisible barrier!
The plants in the valley continued swaying with their own rhythmic motion, completely unaffected by the breeze.
The corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curved slightly, and he murmured in a low voice,
"It seems... we've found the right place."
Ye Xuan looked at Li Guanqi in disbelief, having noticed nothing himself.
When Li Guanqi told him there might be something hidden in the hollow ahead, Ye Xuan was seized with urgency.
At this stage, if the Luo Clan got their hands on the Soul-Devouring Nether Butterfly, Ye Bingxin would be in grave danger.
Moreover... according to the Ice Lion Sect's intelligence, cultivators had been entering and exiting the Luo Clan with unusual frequency lately, and security was exceedingly tight.
Li Guanqi even suspected that Luo Siyang, Luo Changqing, and others might be slipping among those frequent travelers.
All to avoid drawing unwanted attention.
At the same time, Li Guanqi sensed a faint, elusive aura lingering near that hollow.
Evidently, that was a lookout they had posted outside.
Li Guanqi pondered for a moment and decided to strike first!
Matters had already come to this point, so the Luo Clan had surely taken precautions.
It was just that the other side did not yet know they had already arrived at the Ice Lion Sect.
Still, Li Guanqi could not be certain there were no Luo Clan informants within the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect.
Given that Ye Xuan had not shown his face at the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect during this time, the other side had likely figured out that Ye Xuan might come.
In that case...
They would simply clash head-on with absolute strength!
The two exchanged a glance, their figures instantly melting into the void.
***
Deep within the concealed hollow of Dijing Slope.
Scores of array plates lay scattered about, veiling the entire interior of the hollow from view.
A young man, his face as pale as paper, lay upon a stone couch, his breath hanging by a fragile thread.
Ye Bingxin had been tortured until she was drenched in blood, her dharma robes and long dress torn to shreds.
Her wrists and ankles were tightly bound by chains made of dharma artifacts, leaving her cast onto the ground.
Her tear-streaked eyes burned with hatred and venomous malice.
Her origin spirit and sea of consciousness were sealed, and another woman bearing a nine-tenths resemblance to her had also been captured.
It was none other than Ye Bingxin's Yin Spirit clone!
The Luo Clan's plan had proven remarkably thorough; they had managed to capture Ye Bingxin's divided soul long before this.
The only reason they continued to torture Ye Bingxin was to keep her in a perpetual state of weakness.
On a boulder in the distance sat a young man with a grim, aloof countenance.
Stray strands of hair covered part of his face, yet they could not conceal the hideous scar across his skin or the sinister chill in his gaze.
The present Luo Changqing bore no resemblance whatsoever to the high-spirited youth of the past.
The ruthless glint in his eyes chilled one to the bone.
Luo Changqing cast only an indifferent glance at the half-dead Luo Siyang in the distance.
Had the gu bug in his body not been keeping him alive, he would have perished long ago.
Narrowing his eyes, Luo Changqing tilted his head, and a burly man in the distance nodded slightly in response.
Grasping a thorn-studded vine whip, the man slowly walked over to Ye Bingxin.
Seeing this, Ye Bingxin scrambled backward in terror, attempting to escape.
She had suffered endless torment over this period, and the sheer sight of that whip made her recoil instinctively from dread.
Yet the man's expression remained utterly calm. Raising his hand, he swung the whip in an arc through the air, lashing it violently across Ye Bingxin's back.
*Crack!!*
With a single strike, the flesh across her back split wide open, bits of torn skin and sinew clinging to the whip's thorns.
"Ah—!"
A shrill, agonizing scream burst from the woman's lips, echoing into the heavens.
Hearing her screams, the man grew only more excited, swinging the whip with even greater force.
Luo Changqing's cultivation had surged rapidly of late; he had already reached the half-step Tribulation Transcendence realm.
This was thanks to his own foray into a certain forbidden ground for training.
That brush with death still left him with lingering dread.
Yet recently, word had reached his ears...
With a single word, Li Guanqi had completely stripped him of his alternate seat among the Eight Generals!!
Luo Changqing's eyes narrowed, flickering with sinister, venomous hatred.
In his arms rested an eerie saber housed in a pitch-black sheath—another treasure he had obtained within that forbidden ground.
Nearby, a middle-aged man walked over with a solemn expression.
He stood tall and straight, though his frame was slightly gaunt, with hollowed cheeks, monolid eyes, an aquiline nose, and thin lips.
His entire demeanor radiated an intensely sinister aura.
Luo Changqing shared several facial features with him.
Dressed in a dark gold robe that shimmered with flowing light and wearing a purple-gold crown, the man approached Luo Changqing with one hand resting behind his back.
"Ye Xuan of the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect has likely arrived in Nanjiang."
"Lately, the Ice Lion Sect has been inquiring after news of the secret realm. I wonder if it has anything to do with Ye Xuan."
Luo Changqing looked up at his father, his brow furrowing slightly.
The man paused briefly before continuing,
"According to our operative inside the Nine Dragons Immortal Sect, Ye Xuan seems to have discovered something. He personally stepped in and struck down Leng Qingze!"
Yet as soon as the man finished speaking, Luo Changqing let out a derisive sneer.
"With Ye Xuan's intellect, even if he realized this had something to do with the Luo Clan..."
"He would never connect it to the location of the Soul-Devouring Nether Butterfly's secret realm."
Chapter 1402